Currently, vendors who wish to advertise their products have the traditional passive methods at their disposal which include television, radio, billboards, magazines, and newspapers. A passive advertising method means information is delivered to the masses with little attempt to customize the message to individuals. The only method available today to customize the message is to assess, through statistical sampling data, the types of people who might view the message. For example, if a vendor wishes to promote a product which may be of interest to chefs, the vendor may advertise during a cooking show on television. The dilemma with this approach is the advertiser never really knows who sees the advertisement, how many people see the advertisement, and if the advertisement attracted people to buy the product. The concept of statistical sampling has been standard procedure for advertisers because collecting specific individual data has been too costly.
Moreover, in the future, electronic forms of information delivery will outpace many of these passive advertising methods since electronic distribution can target specific populations. With the increased use of electronic information delivery, the traditional letter distribution system may lose appeal, unless the costs can be reduced and delivery improved.
It will also be noted that the senders of letters or parcels have various ways in which to pay for delivery of their material to intended receivers. For example, senders can buy postage stamps or pay for a permit for pre-sorted first class, or bulk rate mail. These traditional approaches are passive in nature, however. Once the postage is placed on the letter or parcel, there is little to no interaction that takes place, other than canceling the postage. The postage is the same for most parts of the country and the letters or parcels are delivered with little attempt to customize the way in which postage is paid for the delivery. One method available today to customize the postage is to buy a permit and bring the large volume of mail to the post office and pay the fee for delivery. The dilemma with this approach is that it is time consuming. Moreover, there is relatively little in way of cost savings, since all domestic letters cost the same to send regardless of their destination.
What is needed is a system or process to entice users to continue to use letter and parcel distribution at lower cost, preferably by using advertising revenues to subsidize the shipping cost. In addition, it would be desirable to develop a system or corresponding process which would bring in advertising revenues by attracting advertisers with the ability to pinpoint the recipients of their promotional messages on letters and parcels before delivery. Moreover, what is needed is a system or process which provides an interactive process for applying or printing information on letters and parcels. Finally, what is needed is a system and/or process applied to a system capable of enticing users to continue to use letter and parcel distribution by simplifying the payment of fees.